If the built-up area is on one side, such as South and West, with the other sides open, how are the pishach bhoomi and devtas found?
Use the angular method taught in class. Whatever the tilt and whatever the shape, octagonal, pentagonal or regular, find the centre, divide the plan into pishach, manushya-dev and brahma bhoomi and mark the pads by degrees as demonstrated, then practise it from the recording.
Related questions
How is zoning done for an irregular plot?
The method is the same. Take the degree of one wall on Google Earth, draw a line through the centre parallel to that wall, set off the tilt (for example 20 degrees towards West, that is 340 degrees) to get exact North, align N5 of the chakra with it and mark the zones. The centre of an irregular plot can be found only with AutoCAD or by cutting the paper plan to shape and finding its balancing centre.
Why does each outer devta cover 11.25 degrees, and how are the pads marked?
The 32 devtas of the pishach bhoomi share the full 360 degrees, and 360 divided by 32 is 11.25. Mark North with the plot's actual tilt (for example 5 degrees), place Som devta centred on North with 5.625 degrees on each side, then mark every further 11.25 degrees with a protractor or a zoning chakra and draw those lines only in the outer ring. The 12 inner devtas follow an 18-54-18 degree split in each direction (27 degrees on each side of the direction line for the middle one), and Brahma sits in the centre.
Are the 32 outer devtas drawn in the Manushya bhoomi or in the Pishach bhoomi?
In the Pishach bhoomi, the outermost band. The 32 outer devta lines are drawn only within the Pishach bhoomi, while the 12 inner devtas sit in the combined Manushya and Dev band and Brahma in the centre.
How are the 64 pad grid and the padas of each devta worked out?
Every pad grid divides the plot into equal sections, for example 81 equal sections for the 81 pad grid; the number of padas each devta occupies is then assigned within that grid. Drawing the devtas by hand will be taught practically in the 81 pad class.
I learned elsewhere that in 81 pad vastu the East falls between E4 and E5. Is that right?
No. In 81 pad vastu exact East falls on E5 (Surya); East between E4 and E5 belongs to the 64 pad grid, so correct it. The reference is in Vishwakarma Prakash, with the page number given in the previous class; the Hindi translation from Sanskrit by Krishna Kumar Jugnu of Udaipur and the edition of Maharshi Abhay Katyayan give the same.
If Google Earth shows 350 degrees, how should North be marked on the plan?
In a regular plot you can set the zero directly at 350 degrees when drawing the straight line. It is easier to think of it as a 10-degree tilt and set off 10 degrees, because that method works from whichever side of the plot you start.